Creating New Animated TV Series for Girls Aged 6-12 in Britain
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Creating New Animated TV Series for Girls Aged 6-12 in Britain Lindsay Watson This article focuses on the development and marketing of animated female lead charac- ters on television for an audience of girls aged 6-12 in Britain. Using strategic marketing theory it asks the questions: “What do girls want (to see on screen)?” “How do they get it?” and “How do we (the animation industry) sell it?” The paper reviews 87 starring fe- male lead characters worldwide and finds that most are: 2D in design, feature characters with American accents, have a cast of either group or independent characters and are of either a ‘dramatic’ or ‘dramatic/comedic’ genre. The article concludes that the types of television shows girls are watching could be improved to better meet their needs. It encourages content creators to be brave and test new ideas and offers practical tips to executives, producers and commissioners on development and positioning of new ani- mated television series that will engage their audiences. Personal Preface As an animation producer, academic, and campaigner for indie animation and women’s rights I decided in 2013 that I wanted to answer the question: Why aren’t there more animated female characters on British children’s TV? That year also happened to be the year I launched Animated Women UK – since then a lot has changed! The 1980s was a great time for empowered animated female leads in TV series as merchandisers recognised audience buying power (Perea, 2014). This didn’t translate to the big screen as from 1995 to 2012 most of Pixar’s films featured male leads. It was not until 2011 that a woman solo directed an animated film (Gardam, 2013). This trend changed in the mid-2010s with the onset of self-sufficient princesses lead- ing Disney’s features. These new films passed the “Bechdel Test” (Bechdel, 2013) and the first animated feature with a non-princess female lead, Inside Out (2015), was released. Watson, Lindsay (2017). Creating New Animated TV Series for Girls Aged 6-12 in Britain p. 53-63 in Dafna Lemish & Maya Götz (eds.) Beyond the Stereotypes? Images of Boys and Girls, and their Consequences. Göteborg: Nordicom. 53 Lindsay Watson Women’s groups internationally have united to raise awareness, educating the public and industry about how deep rooted sexism in children’s animation is. American organ- isations such as the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media have created campaigns like See Jane (www.seejane.org). Other groups like Women in Animation (America, Ireland, Italy), Animated Women UK, Les femmes s’animent (France), Women Drawn Together (Toronto/Vancouver, Canada) and Women and Animation Australia (aka WANDAA) exist to facilitate change their territories. Has anything really changed? In 2015 the British Film Institute and Women in Film & TV (UK) hosted Geena Davis in London. An audience question was: Why do I not see any animated female lead characters on (British) children’s television? The answer is simple: the BFI does not fund development of original animated British TV series; British broadcasters provide investment to few original animated series, so for British producers it is difficult to create female characters. Instead Britain relies on acquisition of foreign content, which typically contain less female leads (Davis, 2015). I believe that girls aged 6-9 are still being discriminated against. Despite represent- ing the majority share of the market in publishing, social gaming, and feature films, they are being denied access to one of the most artistic, innovative forms of art and expression – animation. Why is this important? Well, if an animated TV series is created specifically for boys it encourages development of their ego by inadvertently saying “We care about you; we want you, (not girls) to have fun!”. By only providing girls aged 6-9 with live-action young adult content, the adult community sends a silent message that we expect girls to behave in a more grown-up way; they are not entitled to have fun or be silly like boys are. It is extremely important that content creators realise the effect they have on children in this way. I want to challenge executives and commissioners who argue that “girls don’t buy enough toys to make creating an animated series commercial viable” to continue reading; do your homework, be brave – let those assumptions go! Girls can make you money and be entertained watching an animated series. I want to provide girls with awesome and amazing characters they relate to; that make them feel good about themselves, highlighting their importance to society. I want to send girls the message that they are welcome into the world of animation, rather than cast aside. Introduction Animated content for girls is an under-served market (Hughes, 2014). Some believe the girls’ market is difficult to access due to competition from traditionally boy-skewed licensing and merchandising models and girls’ movement towards live-action at an earlier age (Davis 2013, Wood 2014). Alternatively, there has been a global movement of brands increasing their share of the female market, as films with strong female char- acters make twice as much profit as those without (Vocativ, 2013). 54 Creating New Animated TV Series for Girls Aged 6-12 in Britain This trend towards developing appropriate content for women and girls continues (Mintel, 2014; Silverstein 2009), with Disney’s Frozen (2013) having touched the hearts and minds of a newly formed global audience (Law, 2014). Little public information is published about what animated TV series girls aged 6-12 actually want to watch. So, what does an animation producer need to consider when launching a new an- imated TV series for girls aged 6-12? I used Proctor’s (2014) segmentation, targeting, and positioning technique to begin to answer this question. Strategic marketing What do girls want? (Market segmentation) Proctor suggests dividing what appears most important to my audience into measurable segments. After reviewing a number of surveys, academic studies, and compilations of girls’ views themselves, a number of themes became identifiable as being highly important to this segment: power, expression, confidence, acceptance, empowerment, communication, and uniqueness were all significant for girls aged 6-12. Topics of interest to girls included: bullying, puberty, relationships, and ‘real-life’ issues. They also appeared to have specific lifestyle interests in: nature shows, math, science, reading, making money, and ‘being artistic’. In terms of how girls play, it is important that they relate to the characters they see on the screen (Wieners, 2011). ‘Princess play’ is strongly marketed at girls, but further research is required to identify alternatives to this option (Cook & Main, 2008). CEO of PlayScience Alison Bryant says: “Girls are looking for properties that show them respect and take them seriously (while not being too serious – in fact, humor is key!). They don’t want to be pigeon-holed – they love gender neutral, smart programs with strong leads.” (A. Bryant, personal communication, 18 October, 2016) How do they get it? (Market targeting) Most girls aged 6-12 access animated series through the family television, mobile device, or through parents’ purchases. Broadcast channels provide most of this content, which is either acquired or developed in-house. Disney and Mattel are some of the world’s biggest providers of animated TV content for girls (Lisanti, 2015). Many major European content producers have announced they are seeking to create new animated TV brands for girls (Wood, 2014). Cartoon Network and Teletoon claim to be ‘girl inclusive’ (Kidscreen, 2013). The UK market operates through nationalised and private networks, with public service broadcasters aiming to appeal to all, but the girls’ 6+ animation market is sorely under-served by national channels, as American networks capitalize on the opportunity. For example, specialist girl-skewing freeview channel POP (owned by CBS/Lionsgate) 55 Lindsay Watson features nine TV shows with animated female leads (www.popfun.co.uk); SVOD Disney Channel has two (www.disneychannel.disney.co.uk/shows). They are both ahead of CITV, Sky Kids and national broadcaster CBBC, all of which according to their websites currently have no shows featuring animated female leads (mixed gender casts were not counted). In the UK 81 animated TV series for 6+ feature male leads, compared to just 87 shows with female leads internationally. In May 2016 CBBC and BBC Worldwide joined to commission development of Mystery Soup an animated comedy featuring three 13-year-old female leads (BBC, 2016). Girls can also access content via other paid or free VOD platforms; it was found that many girls obtain content through libraries, illegal download websites, social media and friends. Specialist websites like A Mighty Girl offer procured content with female leads (www. amightygirl.com). How do we sell it? (Market positioning) The last part of this marking process is to position a new show against those already produced. It was difficult to find evidence of girls wanting to see more animated TV brands other than personal testimonials on YouTube and news accounts (Mintel, 2014; The Huffington Post, 2013). Since 2013 there has been a lot of coverage of what adult women feel girls should be watching; they should have access to articulate, visible, relatable female animated leads (as I have seen reported through my Animated Women UK Facebook feed), but there recommendations are only anecdotal until the girls themselves are better represented. Unfortunately, some sexist male TV executives don’t want them watching animation at all (Pantozzi, 2013). In order to get a fuller picture of what animated series already exist for this market I completed a comprehensive review of the 87 animated TV shows featuring female lead characters I could currently find on air.